Yes, Gay Marriage Is In Trouble

The trouble here is apparently within the Democratic caucus in the Assembly. Sources now confirm that Pat Deignan, Fred Scalera, Peter Barnes, Joseph Egan and possibly Gary Schaer and Jack Connors are balking at voting for it.

Democrats seem a little wary of exhibiting what some middle-of-the-road voters might consider a far-left agenda during a financial crisis and shortly after the Democratic Governor ( who had spoken out publicly for gay marriage ) was so solidly defeated.

We also shouldn’t play down the significance of the Church on this one. In August the New Jersey Catholic Conference, which represents Catholic Bishops in New Jersey, began collecting signatures which eventually totaled 150,000 people who are currently opposed to gay marriage. And members of the Assembly were literally called out on the pulpit.

In other words, some Democrats are getting the message that not all of New Jersey is there yet when it comes to this issue. And Democrats need to be cautious before they use up valuable time in lame-duck changing social policy that’s been the law of the land since the beginning of the common era.

Many Democrats now believe this issue should be put directly to the voters in a ballot referendum. New York has opted to put it off, California overturned their law and Maine has now done the same.

The truth is, the votes are there in the Senate with Bi-partisan support. That means they will have to go first. If it passes, sources say chances for passage in the Assembly improve, but are still not guaranteed.

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2 Responses

It’s more than apparent that if the current Governor won the election, we would not even be discussing the issue of gay marriage. The Democratic legislature would have continued with their agenda with regard to the issue and as a result, this social policy would have continued running smoothly and to a finality. What transpired between now and then was that the will of the people, through an election, overrode that smoothness and continuity. The focus has transitioned to issues that are more pressing, urgent and of immediate concern to the average voter. Again, this is not to say that the issue of gay marriage is not important to many New Jerseyans, regardless of where you’re perched on the issue. I’m not trying to dismiss the importance of that.

In my view, the Catholic Church and their opposition to gay marriage is not nearly as significant to the legislature as the result of this recent election. We have seen in many instances politics trumping religion. I believe it’s more of those in power suddenly seeing a deer in the headlights. Losing your home, not having a job, paying a second mortgage in terms of property taxes, diverting more of your paycheck to state income taxes have become the new flavors of the day and this recent election was the cause of that… and well it should be. These challenges know no sexual preference, race or culture. They do more to divide us than they ever will unite us; hence the issue.

We can defer the issue of gay marriage not being a top priority due to the NJ Catholic Conference or those in Trenton attempting to tackle a social issue that has been cemented in time. That may be the perception. The reality is that the will of the people spoke on election day to problems and priorities. My thoughts are with the people.

A completely nutty interpretation of where things stand politically. I won’t be more specific here for one reason: I have no desire to provide information to opponents of marriage equality on a public blog. Steven Goldstein, chair, Garden State Equality